Automatic and adaptive process and system for analyzing and scrambling digital video streams

Abstract

A process for automatically and adaptively scrambling digital video streams including analyzing structure and visual content of the digital video stream, and scrambling the digital video stream under regulation of an inference or decisional engine that selects a scrambling tool or tools to be applied to the digital video stream from a library of possible scrambling tools as a function of the analysis, of digital information relative to characteristics of a user, and from transport conditions of digital data in conformance with a base of predefined scrambling rules.

1 . A process for automatically and adaptively scrambling digital video streams comprising: 
 analyzing structure and visual content of the digital video stream, and    scrambling the digital video stream under regulation of an inference or decisional engine that selects a scrambling tool or tools to be applied to the digital video stream from a library of possible scrambling tools as a function of the analysis, of digital information relative to characteristics of a user, and from transport conditions of digital data in conformance with a base of predefined scrambling rules.    
     
     
         2 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the inference engine is self-adaptive and self-decisional.  
     
     
         3 . The process according to  claim 2 , wherein the inference engine has the ability to teach itself and determine new decision rules from rules previously established.  
     
     
         4 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the analysis has several levels of scalability.  
     
     
         5 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the scrambling tools have several levels of scalability.  
     
     
         6 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the scrambling has several levels of granular scalability.  
     
     
         7 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the inference engine has the ability to make scrambling decisions in such a manner as to respect constraints of telecommunication networks via which complementary information is transmitted to the user for which the scrambled stream is intended.  
     
     
         8 . The process according to  claim 1 , having the ability to make scrambling decisions from an analysis of the video stream in real time.  
     
     
         9 . The process according to  claim 8 , having the ability to adapt a quantity of complementary information in real time as a function of immediate resources in an output/throughput and transport conditions of the telecommunication networks.  
     
     
         10 . The process according to  claim 1 , having the ability to carry out the analysis and scrambling prior to transmission to the user.  
     
     
         11 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the inference engine has the ability to make scrambling decisions in such a manner as to respect constraints, features and performances of a decoder box of the user for which the scrambled stream is intended.  
     
     
         12 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein the inference engine has the ability to make scrambling decisions as a function of scrambling decisions which it previously made.  
     
     
         13 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein scrambling tools used to process a part of the stream are parameterized by original characteristics of previously scrambled parts, which characteristics are stored in complementary information.  
     
     
         14 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein random values used by scrambling tools are generated by a generator of random variables and are passed in parameters to these scrambling tools.  
     
     
         15 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein a decision concerning scrambling to be performed on the video stream is automatic and auto-adaptive as a function of a user profile.  
     
     
         16 . The process according to  claim 1 , wherein a decision concerning scrambling to be performed on the video stream is automatic and auto-adaptive as a function of transport conditions.  
     
     
         17 . The process according to  claim 1 , applied to structured digital video streams stemming from a digital video norm or standard.  
     
     
         18 . A system for automatically and adaptively scrambling digital video streams comprising a module for analysis of structure and visual content of the digital video stream, a library module of scrambling tools, a module that scrambles the digital video stream and an inference or decisional engine module capable of making a synthesis of analysis information and available scrambling tools and generating scrambling instructions as a function of results of the analysis, available scrambling tools, user profile and the transport conditions in conformity with a rule base that it contains.